The attacking of Giroud by Arsenal fans is disgusting. Yes, he might not be everyone’s cup of tea, he might not be the world class player we all dream of, but he is an Arsenal players. And should be supported.

What do we want to happen? Boo and abuse Giroud, so he loses confidence and plays even worse, so we boo and abuse him even more, and he gets even worse, and so on and so on. Are some of our fans really so stupid that they think continually getting on Giroud’s back is the right thing to do?

I'm not joining in all this Giroud shit….he's not a shit striker,he's just not world class.

Since being at Arsenal, he has scored 42 goals in 101 games. It might not be up there with the likes of Aguero and Suarez, but it is amongst the best of the rest in the league. He has not too far off what you would probably class as the leagues top strikers…

League goals

Games

Goals

Goals per game

van Persie

86

48

0.55

Kane

49

24

0.48

Benteke

92

43

0.46

Rooney

93

41

0.44

Giroud

101

41

0.41

Lukaku

108

44

0.41

So he is a tad behind the likes of van Persie, Benteke & Rooney, but many would class these as excellent, even world class, performers. They are players who cost £30m+. So Giroud isn’t perfect, but he is the best we have.

Yes, some will say “but he plays in a better side so gets more chances”, which to an extent, as true – but the others are boosted by penalties, and van Persie and Rooney get plenty of chances in a match.

And compare then look at who he keeps out of the French side. Karim Benzema.

Benzema has scored 44 goals in 95 games. That is playing in an easier league, for a better team, than Giroud. So if Giroud is ‘shit’ what is Benzema? And he also kept out Manchester United’s new £60 million wonderkid Martial out of the side.

Giroud, like Yaya Sanogo before him, is getting the abuse for the manager not acting in the transfer market.

If I'm going on stage & I know the director thinks I'm shit my performance is going to be lacking, same applies for Giroud.
Get behind him!

Wenger did not buy another striker, whether that be someone who is better than Giroud (in my opinion there are not too many available) or someone to compliment / compete with him. It is not Giroud’s fault.

People got on Sanogo’s back due to him being 2nd choice striker. That was Wenger’s choice, not Sanogo’s. It is the same case as Giroud. Do not blame him for being the only decent striker at Arsenal, blame Wenger.

And that is the crux of the matter. Giroud is a decent striker. And he is an Arsenal striker. We should be getting behind him, backing him, cheering his name, not getting on his back for missing a half chance whilst playing on international duty.

Even if you do not like Giroud, or rate, him, whilst he is an Arsenal player, let’s back him. Calling him a lamppost is just silly. Getting on his back will not help him.

I do wonder sometimes, some of our fans want to erode the confidence of players, want to get on their back, want to see them fail, for their own motives, their own agenda. They would rather Giroud not score so that they can say “You’re shit Giroud, Wenger’s a c**t” then him getting a goal like against Palace, or going on the run he went last season.

No matter if you like Giroud or not, you should want him to score goals. Giroud scoring goals increases the chances of success of Arsenal. If you get on his back, want him to fail, then you want Arsenal to fail.

2 thoughts on “The Disgusting Abuse of Olivier Giroud”

Agree with your article 110%; I do think there leaves a case to be made from a fan perspective of being a bit more constructive with our criticism of Giroud. All players miss sitters from time to time. But I think what bothers the average…knowledgeable fan the most about the Giroud – Wenger paradigm is that:

A. We can accept that when he was acquired he was on the cusp of being class. Then came into goals with IMHO is a fairly advanced football brain; but his two major deficiencies that all scouts labelled as keeping him down below world-class were: lack of pace, and a major lack of a RIGHT foot.

B. Two things that could have (and still can be) easily be addressed but never, ever seem to be addressed. I would argue he can be world-class at his current pace. But the elephant in the room is clearly his lack of a right foot, Imagine if he bothered to go into space or first touch a ball into the logical space all the time? How many more goals could he have had?

The overall theme seems to be a shocking lack of urgency with anything: addressing possible injury ramifications, transfers, player development, coaching style etc.

Send Giroud to Texas to Michael Johnson´s camp, shave .2 of his 40. Commit to ambidexterity in training and in the off season…but the teams problems are nothing but a growing list of ittle tweaks. But urgency…lol-